GTX 770 started sparkling and smoking soon after installation

[Socialz]

Hello,

I have been upgrading my PC for some weeks now and piece by piece I've managed to get to the GFX card and a new PSU. I bought a Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 (OC REV2.0, Windforce 3X, 4GB GDDR5, 2xDVI/HDMI/DP, PCI-E 3.0). Installation was easy (took out my previous GTX 560) and everything worked out just fine. However I had some problems with installing drivers but after a few hours me and my friend uninstalled all traces of the old GFX card.

Alright, all working. I ran 3DMark to see how well my new GPU does its job and it worked just fine, got good results and I was happy. No weird noises from inside my computer neither, temperatures good and such.

So I went to sleep and woke up in the morning in hopes of getting to play Watch_Dogs with the extreme quality settings and see how well it behaves! Well, of course it works fine and all is good like I expected. I played for around 15-20 minutes until suddenly my computer shuts down completely and it restarts automatically as that's what my computer does normally – I hear cracking/sparkling/popping/burning noise from inside and immediately hop off my chair and take out the power from every breakpoint. So, I'm thinking - what just happened? I can smell kind of "electronic" smoke in the air, not sure what the real saying is for that smell, but you know, when something has burned and the burn was inside of an electronic device.

So I open up my case and see what's going on - no problems, all seems normal. I cannot see anything gone wrong (probably because of my fast reaction to the dangerous noise). So after lunch I asked my friend to stop by again to see what is the problem. We made a very short test run to see where the smoke and sparkles were coming from - and we traced it to the GTX 770 card. We removed the part and examined for any visible problems like something blocking the fans or some rocks or dust or anything; but we were unable to find anything. The sparkles were originating from the center of the card. So now we're planning on going back to the store where I bought it from to get a refund - or well, just another piece of the same model.

I would like to know what this could have been? I have 750W PSU hooked up and all was fine until this. Could it be a factory problem and nothing to do with my setup? I haven't touched the OC settings nor have I got anything extreme inside my computer. I also have three fans inside my PC and all have filters on them, so this was most likely not caused by any dust interacting with some hot parts or so.

My computer runs normally when the GFX card is out, so it's just the card that is causing this problem.

Do you guys think I should get the exact same card from the same manufacturer, or should I get the same card from another one - I honestly think it could have been a factory problem and probably just this one card, not the whole shipment. I've heard a lot of good opinions and reviews of this exact manufacturer's card that I have.

Long story short: After 15-20 minutes of Watch_Dogs gameplay my computer shuts down and restarts automatically hearing sparkling and cracking noise from inside (which was later traced to the GFX card - and PC runs normally without it).

Any suggestions/opinions/comments/help/whatever is appreciated!

Also posted on NVIDIA forum >

As a note: we let the GFX card rest and cool down before we proceeded to the quick test run - meaning the temperatures would've been close to very low (so no overheating neither, taking into account it has 3 great fans on it as well).

[Socialz]

In addition, my current setup is as follows:

Motherboard: MSI P67A-C45
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 2x2 GB, Kingston HyperX Fury 2x4 GB
Disk reader(s): CD/DVD-RW slot (cannot remember which model)
Hard drive(s): Samsung 1TB HDD SATA III (cannot remember which model)
Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K Sandy Bridge (cannot remember precise model)
Fan(s): 2x Coolink 120mm (in-front, ex-back), 1x Noctua 120mm (in-bottom) (all fans filtered)
CPU heat sink: 1x Coolink double tower on top of processor with thermal compound (cannot remember which model)
Power supply: Corsair Builder Series CX 750W
Case: Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl

My Gigabyte GPU is hooked with two 8-pin power connectors as said in the package, however many topics around here and elsewhere say 8-pin and 6-pin, could this be a problem?

Usual temperature: ~50-65 celsius when playing games, ~40 celsius when idle/regular usage

EDIT:
A user on another forum replied that the problem was most likely caused by the core power supply control unit within the GFX card, which is broken and caused all the sparkles and smoke. There is 220 watt power going through a fingertip size area, so that is what caused all of this most likely. He also said that this exact piece just slipped through the quality control and unfortunately got over to my hands, but there is nothing to worry about as I have warranty on it.

I am going to keep updating this thread as I receive more information regarding the situation.

[Socialz]

Alright, good news people.

I filled up the RMA-form yesterday morning and they reviewed it this morning. I went to the store this afternoon and waited 10–15 minutes for them to test and review the damage on the card. They acknowledged my explanation and were able to match the story to theirs, and because the actual cause was inside of the card, which they were unable to open up they gave a new card as replacement because of my warranty.

So, I installed my new card (amongst with other components which I purchased while at the store, such as a 256GB Pro Series SSD by Samsung and a simple 1TB HDD for basic usage plus replaced the thermal compound on my CPU to a new paste.

For now I have not had the chance to test out Watch_Dogs or the card itself since I have been installing Windows 8.1 on my SSD (downloading takes a while, install not that long since it's SSD hehe).

I am going to update this post as soon as I've played games for 2-5 hours in row so I can tell you how it behaved and the temperatures and other things I found while at it. So far all is good!

Have a nice week people!

ADDITIONALLY...

To those of you that possibly have the same or similar problem as I do: a reputated well-known expert replied to my post on another external forum and explained that my issue was most likely caused by the power management unit on the card, which apparently was broken or not-so-well built, which caused it to stop working and die. Because it died, the power (220W on a fingertip sized area) was unable to catch the power cables and paths on the card, so the power automatically got out as hot air, smoke and sparkles. This is normal for electricity and this happens with any electronic device which cannot handle the power it is receiving, you would see this in TV shows where electric lines are cut or hit by an object - they sparkle and smoke and let out hot air. Gladly my card was pure new and I had warranty and I didn't quite do anything to the card itself or its settings. I simply filled up a RMA-form on the store's website (if you can't find any, just walk into the store and explain, they will either take it and test it or let you fill up a document and ask for a receipt). I waited for day and they accepted it by email. They sent me details on how to proceed and how to deliver it to the store for testing. They also explained what happens if they cannot find any problems or if the problem was caused by myself. So I went directly to the store later that day and they reviewed it and found the same problem as I. They gave a replacement card, which is so far working absolutely fine. I do not think you should be paranoid about the replacement card as these issues are usually card-specific and not necessarily on each card of the whole batch. At the end of the day they test each card with machines at the factory and sometimes even at the store for any occurring problems (any error they find means the card is invalid and will be recycled automatically at the factory; the test phase is extremely strict, that's why the parts last long, but unfortunately sometimes there are exceptions and a faulty card can get through accidentally); some problems might occur after some more usage that the machine does not go for at the factory or store. So that is what happened. Do not worry if you have the same problem as long as you have warranty and able to believe in the fact that your other components could not have caused any of this to you.